The tenth day of demonstrations against pension reform in France on Tuesday saw clashes between police and hundreds of protesters, as tensions rose in the country as dialogue between President Emmanuel Macron's government and unions reached an impasse.
In Paris, security forces intervened to disperse a group of protesters after they stormed a grocery store and set fire to a garbage container just before the main protest march reached Place El Watan, AFP correspondents said. Police said they had arrested 22 people.
The Paris police headquarters said security forces fired tear gas to "disperse the demonstration", allow "fire brigades to intervene" and "facilitate the progress of the march".
VIDEO: Policeman seen kicking woman in the back during attack on protesters in #Paris 🇫🇷 pic.twitter.com/xW36zCplwB #ViolencesPolicières #France #EU #VonDerLeyen #TomorrowsPapersToday #greve28mars #Labour #manifs28mars
— Manchester Chronicle 🐝 (@WithyGrove) March 28, 2023
Videos posted on social media showed a violent intervention by the police in dealing with the demonstrations that took place in Paris today, where tear gas canisters were used while their members beat demonstrators with batons and kicked some of them, as well as the clips showed a number of protesters falling to the ground.
VIDEO: Policeman thrusts his baton into the face of a young woman as she struggles to recover her possessions from the floor. pic.twitter.com/IAtoJOgqIq #ViolencesPolicières #EU #France #Paris 🇫🇷 #TomorrowsPapersToday #Macron #MacronsWar #greve28mars #VonDerLeyen #Labour
— Manchester Chronicle 🐝 (@WithyGrove) March 28, 2023
Demonstrators clashed with security forces on Tuesday afternoon in the western city of Nantes, where a bank branch was set on fire and the administrative court was targeted, as well as in the western city of Rennes, where vandalism took place.
Des feux sont allumés à Paris. Le cortège stagne depuis plusieurs dizaines de minutes à cet endroit. #Manif28Mars #greve28mars #ReformeDesRetraites pic.twitter.com/MOpLPPHsBU
— AB7 Média (@Ab7Media) March 28, 2023
Protests against an amendment put forward by French President Emmanuel Macron, which specifically raises the retirement age from 62 to 64, have intensified since the government adopted the text without a vote in the General Assembly, while motions of no confidence did not lead to the overthrow of the government.
Since then, demonstrations have seen increased violence, with police, gendarmes and demonstrators injured and public buildings torched.
Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin announced on Tuesday the deployment of "13,5500 police, including <>,<> in Paris", in "unprecedented" reinforcements.